Ohio State football notebook: Schedule upgrades coming, Smith says

Friday

Sep 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2012 at 10:07 AM

Tired of a mostly uninspiring nonconference schedule for Ohio State football? Thank the establishment of a college football playoff for causing the Buckeyes to play a heftier schedule starting in 2017.

Bill Rabinowitz, The Columbus Dispatch

Tired of a mostly uninspiring nonconference schedule for Ohio State football?

Thank the establishment of a college football playoff for causing the Buckeyes to play a heftier schedule starting in 2017.

The Buckeyes don't want to risk being penalized for a weak strength of schedule if they are one of the contending teams for the four-team playoff, which starts in 2014, athletic director Gene Smith said yesterday.

Ohio State's schedule is set through 2016. After that, Smith said, the Buckeyes will strive to schedule two top-40 programs per season in addition to the marquee opponent that Ohio State has traditionally played. The fourth nonleague game would be similar to the teams Ohio State has recently played in September.

"Obviously, with the playoff system, we feel and think that nonconference strength of schedule is going to be a factor in who gets in the final four," Smith said. "So we're changing our philosophy in scheduling."

One likely casualty of the change in scheduling philosophy is the decrease in opponents from the Mid-American Conference, he said.

Smith declined to name the potential opponents with whom the Buckeyes are negotiating.

"I don't want to talk about names right now because it just might not come to fruition," he said. "We hope in the next couple of weeks that we'll have some names to share."

Smith said the Buckeyes will still need to play seven home games per year to generate the revenue required to operate its 36 athletic programs. But Smith is open to play home-and-home series against one of those top-40 programs and not just against the nationally elite opponent.

Smith said that coach Urban Meyer is supportive of the scheduling philosophy change and even submitted a list of desirable opponents.

"If you want to be in the playoffs, you have to understand that's a requirement, but he believes in it for our fans as well," Smith said. "We had a great discussion and talked about the kind of teams and places we'd like to go."

Smith said the change in philosophy is not a reaction to the empty seats seen at Ohio Stadium this year.

"We've had some empty seats for some of our nonconference games for years, when visiting team's fans returned their tickets," Smith said. "We've always had some empty seats, because it's Labor Day weekend or the opponent. So it's not an issue of demand. That did not play into it at all."

Injury update

On his radio show, Meyer updated the status of some key players. He was less optimistic about the chances of safety C.J. Barnett (ankle) playing on Saturday at Michigan State. On Wednesday, he described Barnett as probable. Yesterday, Meyer said he was questionable.

Meyer said that defensive lineman Michael Bennett (groin) will make the trip, but said his playing time would be limited, at best. Meyer said cornerback Bradley Roby (shoulder) was probable to play.